It is hard to believe, but it is time to start thinking about the holidays and colder weather! This year, you can prepare for both by ordering some Voorheesville Spiritwear. There are a lot of exciting options for 2017 ranging from hoodies and jackets to lanyards and headbands and a lot more in between.

All orders are due byWednesday, November 15.Cash or checks are accepted, checks should be made out to Voorheesville PTA.To place an order, please fill out the order form and submit with payment in an envelope marked“Spiritwear/PTA VES, ATT: Sara Martin”. Orders will be available for pick up on December 18that the elementary school.

Please see the attached order form for details and information or contact Sara with questions - spiritwearvcs@gmail.com

Voorheesville PTAptaofficers@voorheesvillepta.orgfallspiritwear2https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/voorheesvillepta.org/blackbirds/24424148440234535362017-10-19T15:22:16.918Z2017-10-19T15:22:16.924Z2017-10-19T15:22:16.914ZWho do the children want to see kiss a pig?!

Your children will have the opportunity to see one of their favorite teachers or Mr. Vivenzio Kiss a Pig with the help of your donations. Each morning, we will have a table set up right outside the main office with labeled cups for your child to put money into to vote for which teacher they'd like to see kiss the pig. The teacher with the most money at the close of the fundraiser will have to kiss the pig!

Please see the attached for more information. It should be a great time!!

Parent University exists in many schools in our area and around the country. The goal of Parent University is to increase parent involvement in Voorheesville Middle School and empower parents to raise children who are successful in school and in life. Parental involvement improves student morale, attitudes, and academic achievement across all subject areas. Parent University recognizes that behind each successful student are supportive families, teachers, school staff and community members who actively participate in a student’s education. No matter what role you play in our school community, Parent University encourages involvement and participation in the education of our community’s students.

Our1st Parent University Eventis scheduled forMonday, October 2, 2017at7:00PM in thePACand featuresSweethearts and Heroes!Special thanks to our PTA; their majority financial support made this full day and evening event possible.

Sweethearts and Heroeswill spend the day at the middle school October 2. Join us that evening to hear about theirParent Pillars. You do not need to have a child in the middle school to attend! Learn more about their message atwww.sweetheartsandheroes.comor see the many links on our webpage under headlines.

Spring is finally here, and so is the Spring Spiritwear Order! Get ready for summer with a new Voorheesville Blackbirds t-shirt, tote bag, or pair of shorts. We have a variety of clothing and other items that will help you show your Voorheesville spirit.

The deadline for orders isWednesday, May 31, so please order quickly, you don’t want to miss out. Please print out the order form, fill in the required information, enclose payment and send in to school today!

Checks (payable to Voorheesville PTA) or cash are accepted*, envelopes should be marked “SPIRITWEAR – VES, ATT: SARA MARTIN”. Items will be available for pickup on or around June 19.

CapCom is celebrating Police Week, May 14-20, by honoring the real life superheroes who are dedicated to keeping us safe. Kids ages 5-12 can enter by drawing a picture that answers the following question:

“If you were to design a superhero costume for your local police officers, what would it look like?”

Four winners in each of three age categories will receive a $30 VISA® Gift Card. Drawings must be received by Friday, May 5. Find more details and download the entry form online.

This can be a great classroom activity, so share this notice with your elementary school teachers!

Attached is a PDF flyer and entry form. Please have the child draw on the back of the entry form to submit.

We look forward to receiving all the fun and creative drawings.

Voorheesville PTAptaofficers@voorheesvillepta.orgcapcomdrawingcontest-policeweek1https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/voorheesvillepta.org/blackbirds/9125170808274251172017-04-05T12:01:25.438Z2017-04-05T12:01:25.455Z2017-04-05T12:01:25.430ZSave the Date! Baby Animal Day at Indian Ladder!

Our Color-A-Thon race is a fun and healthy event and will be a BLAST for all! Join us for the 1st Annual Voorheesville PTA 3k Color Run on Sunday, May 7, 2017. REGISTRATION OPENS MARCH 27, 2017. Thanks to our corporate sponsor, Corner Gateway, you can purchase a 36"x24" color sign that will be used to mark the race route!! Personalize your sign with words of encouragement or simply leave your family name!! For your convenience, every student brought home an order form last week. Forms are due by May 1st! Click here for more info!

PTA Science Fair is coming... join in the fun! The PTA Science Fair is Wednesday, April12, from 6:30-8pm in the Large gym. The information and sign up flyer went home with elementary school students recently, so please look for that and plan to participate! The public library has books with ideas and there are great on-line resources too...work with your child and do an experiment together! Visiting scientists come to the Fair and ask the kids about their projects, and they have lots of fun learning about their friends' projects as well!

The 2016-2017 Yearbook Committee will be holding its first meeting in the Library on Thursday January 12, 2017 at 6pm. We are looking for volunteers, no experience necessary, just a willingness to work with a team to put out a great yearbook. Meetings will most likely be once a month, maybe an extra before yearbook goes to final print. I am also looking for any pictures anyone has taken at any school event thus far or anyone willing to take pictures at any future events they attend. The picture quality is better with a camera so those are preferred, but we can try any pictures you may have taken. Thank you in advance, any help is appreciated! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions at torrerivers@yahoo.com

Yearbook order forms were sent home home last week with your children. The cost is $20.00 prior to 3/1/17 and $25.00 after 3/1/17. You can order online or send in a check payable to Voorheesville PTA in a sealed envelope addressed to PTA-Yearbook. There is also an option to make a monetary donation if you wish to help buy yearbooks for children at school that cannot afford them. This is completely optional.

We are also looking for volunteers to put the yearbook together. If you are interested or have any questions you can contact me at torrerivers@yahoo.com. The first meeting will be in January of 2017. More information to follow.

We know that your time is precious, so the Voorheesville PTA's Fall Fundraiser this year will be a Donation Drive. 100% of your donation goes directly to PTA sponsored activities at VCSD.

A Donation Drive flyer is attached. A suggested donation of $10 per student would be greatly appreciated and would help the PTA meet our Fundraising Goal for the year. Please return your cash or check (made out to the Voorheesville PTA) to your student's teacher/MS Office/HS Office by Wednesday, November 9th.

If you have any questions, please contact jlhgrant@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for supporting your PTA!

In June of this year the delegates at the National PTA Convention approved a vast number of revisions to the National PTA bylaws. Some of those changes are required to be incorporated into every constituent association’s bylaws (state, region, local and council) in order to remain in compliance with the Standards of Affiliation of National PTA.

NYS PTA has been working on making sure our bylaws reflect those changes in accordance with Article XXII-Amendments, Section 2, which states: The adoption of an amendment to any provision of the Bylaws of the National PTA and the New York State PTA shall serve automatically and without the requirement of further action by the constituent association to amend correspondingly the bylaws of each constituent association.

Notwithstanding the automatic character of the amending process, the constituent association shall promptly incorporate such amendments in their respective bylaws.

Therefore, below you will find links to the following documents:

The NYS PTA bylaws updated with the changes necessary for compliance and including a highlighted section (to new Article XVIII) that is not an automatic addition and will require action by the delegates at the NYS Convention in November.

Action is required only to add a new Section 4 to the new Article XVIII because we cannot mirror the language to National PTA's exactly in this section. The related section in the National PTA bylaws speaks specifically to the dissolution of National PTA while ours must speak to the dissolution of NYS PTA. Therefore, action is required by the delegates at Convention to include appropriate language.

It should also be noted that corresponding changes have been made to the unit, council, region and Empire State bylaws patterns in accordance with Article VI, Section 15 of the NYS bylaws and are in full effect even if the current bylaws held by these constituent association are in an older format. Any amendments approved at the NYS PTA Convention in November 2016 that have corresponding amendments in the unit, council, region and ESPTSA bylaws will also be incorporated into all those patterns immediately following Convention and become effective immediately.

If you have questions regarding the proposed amendment or other proposed amendments previously sent, or any questions regarding the compliance changes, please contact bylaws@nyspta.org.

Voorheesville PTAptaofficers@voorheesvillepta.orgysptabylawsnotification1https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/voorheesvillepta.org/blackbirds/47062679182128394802016-10-17T21:28:37.575Z2016-10-17T21:28:37.649Z2016-10-17T21:28:37.491ZNewly developed draft standards for ELA and Math P-12

Parents should know that State Ed and the NYS Commissioner of Education have recently released newly developed draft standards for ELA and Math P-12. Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and NYSED determined that the Common Core Learning Standards needed to be fine-tuned to better serve New York State students. The revised standards will remain in draft form until the period for public comment closes in November. After that, the committee of educators, parents and other stakeholders will review the feedback and finalize the new standards. Parents teachers should feel free to comment on the standards, maybe not all of them, but at least those affecting the level(s) where families have students in school or levels teachers provide instruction.

Don't forget to check out the PTA's Monster Book Fair this week at the Elementary School this week! It's open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3pm-7pm in the conference room across from the main office. You can also order online! http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/voorheesvilleelementarysch1

As a reminder to all 5th grade parents! Please submit one baby photograph of your child, pre-k or younger. You can email the picture to Andrea Macri at amacri@nycap.rr.com or you can send a labeled photo to school in a sealed envelope to PTA Mailbox/Andrea Macri (they will be returned to you once scanned). Please submit your child's photo no later than Friday, February 12th. If you prefer to not have your child's baby picture in the yearbook, please send an email saying so. Thank you, your cooperation in creating a memorable keepsake for the 2016 graduating class of Voorheesville Elementary School is greatly appreciated!!